Radio

Women Are Not Men

Women are different from men, by a lot, in some key areas. For example, data show that women don’t: drown, compete as hard, get struck by lightning, use the Internet, edit Wikipedia, engage in delinquent behavior, or file patents as much as men do – and these are just some of the examples. Another way women are different from men? They have made significant economic gains and yet they are less happy now than they were 30 years ago. So, how do we explain this paradox? In this episode of Freakonomics Radio, Stephen Dubner looks at some of the ways that women are not men. Later in the hour, Dubner talks to Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker about his research on the history of violence. Pinker has a surprising and counterintuitive thesis: violence has declined and the world is a much more peaceful place than it has ever been.

T.M.

November 6, 2013 @ 6:14am

I am looking forward to your next fascinating and equally worthwhile analysis--black people are not white people. C'mon, this was ridiculous. I had to turn off the radio it was so bad. Join the 21st century, man.

Zebra

November 6, 2013 @ 6:39am

It seems odd to me that they chose to entitle the show "Why Women are not Men" , as though men are the default. It seems to me that a far more appropriate title could have been chosen.

William Ganness

January 4, 2015 @ 9:18pm

Almost everything we study we about gender is going to be inherently flawed. Our society suffers from the "Women are Wonderful" pathology. Just like this presentation wanted to present women in positive light, instead of focusing on the reality that women don't produce, perform nor are they equal to men, despite all the resources that are dedicated to the improvement of women, being the best and most reasonable explanation of the gaps, they instead choose a narrative that is gynocentric and along the lines of "Women are Wonderful", so it cannot be their fault. Gynocentricism that we currently experience is a function of our comfort levels. After all the heavy lifting is done, with the prescribed gender roles, women being who they are, and men striving to please and protect women, choose to unrealistically view women as superior to men. This happened to many previous civilizations to the end of their dominance, before another civilization took over and superseded it - The Egyptians, Greeks, the Romans and now its going to happen to Western Civilization. Go look at The Mouse Utopia Experiment that conducted over and over in the 60's. We are at the end of western civilization.